Encomium

Her helicopter snore. She'd puff out her cheeks as she was exhaling.

Most of the time she didn't snore, especially when she got older.

She had a nose infection once.

The way she drank milk out of the jug as I was pouring it.

The way she followed me so close on the right side when we went for walks.

Her operatic yodel when she howled at coyotes.

The way she used to sing and howl in the car when she was having fun.

Her sneer when she was ticked off.

The way she kept her own nails trim.

The time she brought me my slippers when I was feeling blue.  She did that again when I told her how nice that was six months later.

The words she knew: kiss, paw, sit, down, off, sofa, high 5, come, stay, walk, car, spaghetti, cheese, sausages, bed time, time for bed, beautiful Miranda, Miranda smells like chocolates, bones, cookies, doggy, coyote, gopher, fox, foooood, wriggle, ballet toes, milk, water, Cricket, Molly, Molly & Marko, good, bad, no, bye-bye

I hypnotized her before she died by chanting heal the  bones energy bone bone heal the bones.

I didn't want to euthanize her at the end.

Her mane

Her soft soft fur

The white spots on her toes

Her soft long ears

Her smell, she smelled clean always

She had an underbite

The way she dragged her toes a little when she walked

She loved to crackle water bottles

She loved to play with milk jugs

She would put her head on the console of the car when we drove or sometimes on my shoulder

She loved to swim

She loved to fetch frisbees in the water

She pulled a sled for me

She wore a harness for a long time so I could help hold her up when her legs were bad.

Marko called her Chubbikins

The way she'd sit by the tub when I had a bath

At first she slept on the bed with me every night, facing the door.  She didn't like to get too close  on the bed because it made her too warm.

She loved to rip towels.

The time she growled and walked in front of me to protect me from a guy who appeared out of the bush ahead of me in the Don Valley.

The time she pulled the pants off a bratty kid.

Her voice.

The way she put her hand out to my arm when she was laying down.

She used to pull the light off and on in her room when she was a puppy.

The time she barked in the car and poop popped out of her bum like a little cannonball.

The first time she farted when she was a puppy, she jumped up, spun around and looked so surprised.

She could eat from a spoon or fork.

Mindy, Mindus, Mindus blinndus, Beautiful Miranda, Mindy blinndy

Her back would go up when she was warning me.

She had longer hair on her shoulders.

Tippy toe, tippy toe

I called her a ferenghi and a mangalore

Her face upside down, how baggy it was and how soft

She didn't have much white hair on her face when she died

She helped me herd chickens, once she caught on to how it was done.

She loved to hear "good job".

She liked when I did a high laugh and clapped my hands and said "good job" and Yay Mindy, or Yay Miranda.

She loved to fetch a ball especially when she was young.

She had many friends at the dog park.

Otis was an Italian greyhound who humped her leg.

Her bff was Stella the little Duck tolling retriever.

Molly the great dane was her all time best friend.  She remembered her name until the day she died.

The time she fell down an embankment and Marko had to pull her up by her harness -- the little yelp she made.

The first time she saw a horse, she chased it away -- I was dragged about 25 feet on my belly as I held onto the leash.  She was always wary of horses.  She didn't trust them.

The little wriggle she'd make when I tickled her back.

For a while, she would shake when she got out of the lake, I'd say "shake" and she would.

Her beautiful feet.

She chewed my furniture when she was teething.

She came to Lake Miskawbi when she was tiny and rode in Susanne and Andy's paddle boat.

She chewed Sundog by Jim Harrison and How to Communicate with your Dog, and April Frost's book about Dog Obedience.  Those were the only books she chewed.  I still have them.

Her soft face, snuggling her cheek.

She was named from Miranda in The Tempest when we saw Shakespeare in Toronto.

A film guy once told us she should be in movies.

She got honked at on Queen Street and people shouted "great dog".

The way her head would swivel around when she heard something.

When she would furrow her brow and look concerned.

Her "fake out", she'd start barking and barking to get Cricket off the sofa, then steal her spot.

I slept with her on the floor the night before she died.

She loved playing with a big piece of 4" abs pipe, which she would roll around the yard.

She loved clattering crushed milk jugs.

She learned things very quickly, it only took a few examples.

She loved to be told she was smart.

I would whisper in her ear a list of things about her, she loved that. I'd say Miranda, you are so smart, and so brave, you smell like chocolates,  I love you.

I had a ritual saying when I said goodbye for work.  I'd say, I love you, Be good, Don't let anyone in, I'll see you later.